At the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were ori ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England, an official

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament between national representative selections was contested for the first time; football had been played between club teams at the Games of 1900 and 1904. Eight entries were accepted, and were included in the tournament draw, including two from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

: the main team and a

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

. Both

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

both withdrew after the draw and before the start of play, leaving six teams to contest the tournament.

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

won the gold medal representing the United Kingdom ( Great Britain and Ireland), although all the players were from England. Sophus "Krølben" Nielsen of Denmark set a record by scoring 10 goals in a 17–1 win over France A. The famous mathematician

Harald Bohr Harald August Bohr (22 April 1887 – 22 January 1951) was a Danish mathematician and footballer. After receiving his doctorate in 1910, Bohr became an eminent mathematician, founding the field of almost periodic functions. His brother was the No ...

, brother of the even more famous

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. B ...

, also played for

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, who won the silver medal.

Competition schedule

The match schedule of the tournament.

Venue

Squads

Bracket

Tournament

The matches: With eight entries, the tournament draw had a full quarterfinal round of four matches. However, after the draw and appointment of referees, (on 12 October) and (on 14 October) were both forced to withdraw due to financial reasons: this meant their opponents, the Netherlands and France respectively, were awarded a 2–0 victory.

First round

---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

---- ----

Bronze medal match

Originally, all six teams eliminated before the final were to participate in a consolation tournament for the bronze medal, with two first-round matches to be played on 21 October between the four quarter-final losers. After

and

withdrew, the first round was scratched on 15 October, meaning France B and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

qualified automatically for the semi-finals of the consolation tournament. These teams and the two semi-final losers,

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, were scheduled to play the semi-finals on October 23, with the French teams being drawn against each other and the Netherlands drawn against Sweden, with the winners to play off in the bronze medal match prior to the gold medal match on October 24. However, both the French teams had returned home immediately following their crushing defeats to Denmark; therefore, their semi-final and the October 24 bronze medal match were scratched, with the Netherlands v Sweden semi-final becoming the bronze medal match. ----

Gold medal match

Medal summary

Medal table

Medalists

Complete list of medal winners: London 1908 English Amateur Football National Team

Statistics

Goalscorers

Sophus_Nielsen_at_the_1912_Summer_Olympics_-_Denmark_football_squad

;11 goals *

Sophus Nielsen Sophus Erhard "Krølben" Nielsen (15 March 1888 – 6 August 1963) was a Danish amateur football player and manager, and the first player in history to score ten goals in a full national team match. Nielsen scored a total 16 goals in 20 games for ...

;8 goals *

Vilhelm Wolfhagen Vilhelm "Wolle" Wolfhagen (11 November 1889 – 5 July 1958) was a Danish footballer who scored 14 goals in 18 games for the Denmark national team and won silver medals at the 1908 and 1912 Summer Olympics. He played his entire career with K ...

;6 goals *

Harold Stapley Henry Stapley (29 April 1883 – 29 April 1937) was an English amateur footballer who played for West Ham United and Glossop. Internationally, he played for the England amateur team and competed for Great Britain at the 1908 Summer Olympics, ...

;4 goals *

Clyde Purnell Clyde Honeysett Purnell (14 May 1877 – 14 August 1934) was an English amateur footballer who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics. Club career Purnell was born on 14 May 1877 in Ryde, Isle of Wight, the son of John and Emily Purnell. ...

;3 goals *

Nils Middelboe Nils Middelboe (5 October 1887 – 21 September 1976) was a Danish amateur track and field athlete and football player as well as a football referee and leader. He represented the Denmark national football team at the 1908, 1912 and 1920 Su ...

Vivian Woodward Vivian John Woodward (3 June 1879 – 31 January 1954) was an English footballer who enjoyed the peak of his career from the turn of the 20th century to the outbreak of the First World War. He played for Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. He capt ...

;2 goals *

* August Lindgren * Frederick Chapman *

Robert Hawkes Robert Murray Hawkes (18 October 1880 – 12 September 1945) was an English footballer who played for Luton Town, became their first international player, and competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics. Playing career Hawkes joined his local team Lu ...

;1 goal * Émile Sartorius * Arthur Berry * Jops Reeman * Edu Snethlage * Gustaf Bergström

Goalkeeping

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olympics 1908

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

1908 in association football 1908 1908–09 in English football 1908–09 in Danish football 1908–09 in Dutch football 1908–09 in French football 1908 in Swedish football